More than half of the 50 senior sages say there is no personal sacrifice in their civic engagements. For them, the benefits far out-weigh personal costs.

While emerging sage leaders identify with all five motivations, most senior sages are chiefly motivated by altruism and self-interest—and a few by power.

In this fourth issue we investigate both the motivations associated with civic engagement for these men and women and the sacrifices being made by them on behalf of this engagement.

Emerging sage leaders tend to be motivated in one of five ways to become civically engaged.

You have been identified by friends and colleagues as one of our community’s 50 top senior sage leaders.

You have been identified by friends and colleagues as one of our community’s 50 top emerging sage leaders.

Those experiences that provide seniors with most meaning and satisfaction are organizational achievement and success, assisting others, helping to improve the community, teamwork, and personal and professional growth. In addition, some senior sages identify giving recognition to others as being highly meaningful.

The sources of meaning and satisfaction for emerging sages include achieving organizational success, aiding others, helping the community to improve, the intense feelings that can arise from collaboration and consensus-building, and personal and professional growth.

Senior sages experience most of the same obstacles as emerging sage leaders: financial challenges, communications, internal stress and conflict, personal issues, and problems that arise over differences between nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Unlike emerging sage leaders, seniors also identify the absence of effective leadership as a major challenge.

We found that six barriers were often present when our emerging sage leaders reflected during their interview on their experiences of civic engagement.